When I first heard about rocket mass heaters I was kind of skeptical. I read that they could eliminate something like 80-90% of the wood of a conventional stove and I thought, “Bah! That seems like a pretty unreasonable claim to me.” So I put on my investigative pants and got pretty obsessed.

One of the first articles that I came across was Paul Wheaton's article on rocket mass heaters. He does a good job of breaking down the technology in a way that anyone can understand. So, I am going to relay some of his information as well as some other details I scrounged up! I want to tell you about several of the reasons why rocket mass heating is so important. Let’s jump in. [Read more…]

We've talked about “Emergency Cooking – 10 Ways to Have a Hot Meal When the Power Goes Out“, and I firmly believe that everyone should have multiple ways to prepare a hot meal in case of emergency. If you're camping (at least around here), it's getting tougher to have an old-fashioned campfire. Due to concerns about the emerald ash borer, you can't transport wood around the state. Enter the Ecozoom rocket stove. The Ecozom is a compact camp stove designed to burn wood, biomass or charcoal that can cook a full meal with a very small amount of fuel. I was contacted by Tom from EcoZoom and he asked me if I'd be willing to host a review and giveaway. The giveaway has wrapped up, the review follows. [Read more…]